Not Lucky but Favored

Two weekends ago, I had what I can only call a lucky weekend. In a span of 24 hours, I dropped my cellphone in an Uber and honestly I had no idea what to do. I kept trying to use the Uber platform to report a lost item but as has been my experience, it was frustrating and pointless. I kept going outside in the hope that perhaps the phone had fallen somewhere and I would spot it. While that did not happen, what did happen is that the Uber driver who came back with my phone, simply because of the goodness of his heart. Of course I gave him money (the largest bill I had) to thank him; nobody should be expected to perform this for free. I know all the possible outcomes and the fact that this one happened was very, very sobering and heartening.

The next day I was throwing out some trash (for context, there are eight giant dumpsters outside the building). The first few were full and I went to the ones at the end. On my way back, I looked left and saw an overturned earring that reminded me of one of my favorite earrings. I picked it up and it was exactly like my earring. I brought it back with me and of course, it was mine. How I managed to throw it out is not something I know but what I do know is that it was incredibly lucky. I was telling one of my closest friends about this and she said, you are not lucky, you are favored. It was such a lovely sentiment, it will likely stay with me all my life.

Boo

(this happened in 2015 I think but I can't remember if I ever shared it here)

Life in random snippets:

"I was walking in downtown Chicago to the train station with a friend when a (drunk and belligerent seeming) man yelled at me: 'Are you Asian or Indian?' (Umm seriously?)

He then went on to yell: teach your people to fucking tip better, you fucking Indians blah blah. (But but but I never took responsibility for all billion people - but racial slurs don't work that way I suppose? So I'll start offering lessons then?)

Even as we walked away, this kind of went on with him yelling. There wasn't any point engaging with him, even though it would have been nice to have an honest conversation (I can't even imagine the frustration of being a min wage worker, dependent on tips, but even so...)

I was pretty calm then but felt kind of shaken on the ride home. This is perhaps the only such experience I have had in Chicago and isn't reflective at all of my time here. But it sort of reminded me of the difference between a slur and stereotype and also why every once in a while, I feel uncomfortable in my own (brown Indian) skin."

Travel and other irritating things

(I was looking for a document and found a piece of irritated writing from a recent trip)

I have forgotten my charger; this is new, usually it is the adaptor that I forget. It happened during my trip to Ahmedabad in the winter and I spent a night in a hotel room, unable to use my laptop, and starting to grasp that I am partly fighting a losing battle. No matter what I remember, there is always that one more thing.I try and be so careful, I make lists and lists but everything fails when I switch bags. It is always a bad move and I am blaming Spirit (for some reason I keep calling it Sprint) airlines. I am en route to a new city, for an interview, and I am nervous. 

Trainspotting

This is a post from when I was working. I used to travel a fair bit and unexpected things would often happen. In this post, I recount one of the more unusual adventures I had, while trying to board a train from a small town.

The interesting thing about my work is that a lot of interesting, unexpected things happen. Some of these are fun on the spot, for some I spot the fun much later. One of my recent train journeys is definitely something in which I saw the humor much later. Much, much later.

I had to board a Jan Shatabdi train early in the morning from this town in Punjab. I recall from previous attempts that I had to run for my coach in the train in the past because nothing is marked (unlike the Delhi platform where the train comes to stop at specific points for specific coaches). The coaches in trains are connected but I often get confused and so I always aim to board my coach. I had thought the confusion at the platform was bad. I was wrong. 

Home (for now)

Leaving Vietnam was easier than I thought it would be. Leaving Hue city, not as much. By the end of my time there, I had a life, a routine I enjoyed and friends. Our work towards the end was chaotic but even so, the farewells felt difficult emotionally and were full of small kindnesses. Souvenirs and parties and gifts and trips and banana pancakes. We visited our ever-kind and gracious coffee lady (and maybe used an open window in her house to drop a gift when the coffee shop was shut), we said bye to people at the Indian restaurant, we had farewell parties with staff at CORENARM and with people at our hotel (Khach San Duong Sat). Spending time with a lovely three-year old Suri made everything a lot more fun.

Being a clumsy mountain goat on the slopes of Bach Ma (Bach Ma = wild horse)

At the summit 

On Sunday we visited the Bach Ma national park with some of the CORENARM staff. Our day started at 7 am and we got into a 15-seater mini cab for the 1.5 hour long trip to the park. Ten minutes into the journey the driver told us that we needed to switch the air-conditioning off for the engine to work on the steep ride uphill. Oh well, we slowly roasted on the trip but enjoyed some delicious litchis. We got to the park entrance, bought our tickets, used an icky loo (I have of course used many icky loos in my life but Minneapolis and being at the university had spoiled me), and then drove further ahead. We stopped by a restaurant and used an existing trail to walk to the mountain peak, also called the summit point. Along the way we came across a tunnel used by soldiers in the Vietnam/American war.

Structure at the summit

We reached the top, someone in our group discovered a leech in his shoes, we rang the bell for good luck and vibrations and went towards the house-like structure. It is evidence of our madness and bravery that we all decided to walk on the tin roof of the house, ignoring the chain barriers. It had a pretty solid grip and nobody tripped. We walked back, ate lunch (rice + soya sauce for me which was not that much fun), used an even ickier loo with a praying mantis by the door and drove to another trail that led to waterfalls. This is where it got exciting.

Slippery rocks 

First of all, it was very unclear whether the trail was 2 or 5 kms one way. I am also not sure anyone, including those who had been here before, really knew this trail. Finally, it was fantastic fun but there was no warning that it would involve walking on slippery rocks, hanging and sliding down ropes, crossing little creeks (I slipped at the end of one; I definitely had the distinction of falling the most but saving myself), jumping and essentially being mountain goats. It was quite a hike and it was fairly long and arduous. I must say to everyone's credit we all did it. The ropes were incredibly sturdy and as Megan put it 'confidence inspiring'. At one point when I slipped at a rocky edge, I just held on to it and was absolutely fine.

Victorious Meagan and I at the final waterfall

I don't think I am in great shape and I definitely bruised my ego with all my falls (Crocs are not meant for hardcore hiking obviously). But we did it. We reached the rhododendron waterfall and tried to peek down without plunging to disaster. Another trail led to the bottom of the fall but was '689 steep steps' down. By this time we could also hear thunder, were running out of water, and were in general willing to wrap up. There was definitely confusion about how to exit from the trail and which route to follow. We followed the signs and hoped that they were accurate.

Our adviser was the fastest of us all. 

I enjoyed the hike but I will openly admit that this is not my favorite activity. I can do it but I don't necessarily get the same pleasure out of it as some of the other hikers. That being said, knowing where we are going and the plan definitely makes things more enjoyable for me. Oh well. We finally figured that the exit trail was 1.2 kms and not 12 kms (sigh of relief) and marched in a single file. Our cab was able to come and get us and we were on our way back. It was a long ride and almost everyone except the driver napped I think. I ate all the litchis that were left. I was hot, sweaty, dusty and basically just disgusting.

I had a quick shower and was hungry as hell. The first shop I went to pretty much told me they had nothing to eat (it was strange and I am not sure what was happening). The second one, a street restaurant, was great. They packed me food and cutlery and smiled at me. I went to another coffee shop to get mango juice and twice in one evening they served me papaya juice because they didn't have mangoes. I had it the first time and asked for a lemonade the second time. With that ended our super adventurous, exciting, active, hot and unexpected weekend. Have a look at the pictures to see how lovely and slippery the waterfall trail was. 

Parts of our hike

View from the roof at the summit

          

          Calling this the edge of the earth

Checked in and waiting to leave

I may have officially set my own record for one of my worst check-ins. Woke up seven minutes before the Super Shuttle arrived. Overweight baggage. My usual repacking strategies did not work and I had to throw away stuff. All my liquids were fine but I forgot to empty my water bottle! The international leg of this journey hasn't even started :). Plus the airport is really warm and my usual tactic of wearing multiple layers to stay warm and reduce baggage weight seems to be currently backfiring. But yay!